Hair metal

So I read on a friends blog a post about 80's rock ballads   ( http://www.tamsinkirax.blogspot.com/)   So in response. I must say I was in a related but slightly different place at that time. please enjoy the blast from my past.

then I skipped over a bunch of stuff and went straight to this sort of thing

Comments

I have received a few comments! thanks Tamsin. I didn't know I had to approve them before they will appear, but now i do. keep them coming.

The Management.

cowboy with no horse, is not a cowboy

Ever since my accident, I've been with out my bike.  Which for me is like a missing a trusted friend. Cycling is largely a solitary pursuit which is a large part of it's appeal for me. I find the demands of self reliance challenging, but a daily reminder of my true strength and weakness. There are no opportunities for vail the truth. Out there on the road pain is pain, actual pain not a metaphor for something else and you will pay for your mistakes with more of it. There is no pretense pain is pain and joy is joy, undiluted and without rational. The road is honest and unforgiving and I love it for it's lack of bullshit. When your on the road you have one ally. Your bike, it is there, to endure with you through torture and triumph. So when your trusted friend is lost it sort of upsets your apple cart. 

This week after some searching I think I've made peace with a new friend to be joining me in the future. I am really looking forward to it arriving I had to order a new frame for my bike and it will arrive in 5 days or so. Then all the components have to be moved over and the bike fit process done with my local bike shop.

So where will I go?  what will I see? what triumphs?  what failures will me and my new friend find together?

Lets go see

No apologies

I saw a documentary the other day.... It's been around for a few years and everyone else has seen it. So for all you.. like me that missed it. You have got to see this.I found this completely inspiring. The funny thing about trying to become a middle aged bike racer is that just about everyone thinks your 

1) unbelievably stupid

2) a narcissist

3) deranged

or

4) An old man that wants to be a child again.

To all of them I say go live your own life and fuck off.

The documentary as you will see, shows people being unbelievably driven to do something nobody thinks is a good idea and end up inventing something wholly new. unapologetically myopic and driven. 

Passion Matters, Go do the shit out of the things that make you who you are.

here's a clip from the documentary.

I broke my bike but not my head.

I had a bit of a mishap this last weekend. I ran into the side of a car on my bike. A driver tried to pull into a parking spot right in front of me and I plowed into the side of her car. I was going along about 20 when i saw her and started to brake. I think I had about a car length and a half of braking before the impact. I glanced of the side of her car because it was at an angle to go into the spot then got kicked onto the sidewalk beside the road.  It's my first wreck. I am fine, a bit sore but no bad at all.

My bike took the worst of it tho. The frame cracked and I'll have to replace it. carbon frame  ride wonderfully but are subject to fracture. Once the integrity of the moulded carbon is breached you have to throw it out and replace it. So my bike store is going to order a new one. I'll have to wait a bit for it to come in and get assembled so that's a bummer. I'm riding my old bike for the moment as to keep up with training.

It's odd I remember it in it's entirety. you hear stories about how it's all a blur or it happened so fast. not in this case while it did happen in the blink of an eye I remember it well and what I was thinking. I can remember seeing the car rushing toward me and thinking oh no! I could tell right away i was going to hit it. As I got close I can remember forming a plan to at the last second turn toward the side of the road to minimize the impact angle. I can remember my hand against the glass of the rear passenger door window, rolling onto my back in the grass.

Weird huh?

In other news the new team kits are here and got mine yesterday so new duds for the team!

Spring finally comes to minnesota

You heard it right, spring has finally arrived here in minnesota. The lilacs and trees are in bloom the leaves are out and the grass is green.  what a sight for sore eyes. Temperatures this week were in the 70's!  riding outside has been glorious this week, so i put on 178 miles wheeeeee!

I'll post a few pictures of what is blooming in the yard. I'm not going to write much more at the moment I'll be back in a bit going to go out and get some more sun!

Flotsam and Jetsam

Here is some random shit that I think is fun.

1. Andy Goldswothy very interesting artist. Here are a couple of clips from river and tides a documentary about him. Enjoy 

2) To continue on this theme a bit. Check out this guy. Keep in mind this is not a trick. no glue no wires. just rocks.

Work has been insane this week so sorry not to many entries. hopefully the tidbits will tide you over.

Am I funny?

We've all see it. That one guy that thinks he's very funny. At ever cocktail party he's over there doing his shtick and everyone around him nods chuckles and stairs at there drinks. Because he's not funny and everyone is to polite to tell him. Even his poor wife standing there embarrassed doesn't have the heart to tell him. The problem he doesn't know he's not funny. and he goes on and on embarrassing himself. 

My race was yesterday.  So after years of speculation  and rumor by many and there is finally irrefutable evidence the facts are in. I am in fact a looser. I came in dead last... and not by a little. Fuck. The part of the race that hurt the most was to resign to it. To roll over and die. About three quarters of the way through the course  it was glaringly obvious I was alone off the back.  I had such bad cramping in my butt that I could barely sit and when I tried to lean into the pedals I got shooting pains from the center of my butt where the muscle attaches to the bone all the way down into my knees. I was painted in to a corner. I couldn't go any faster. I crawled my way to the finish. 

As I crossed there were a group of riders and spectators standing around the finish line. I heard one say to the other " now that's just embarrassing"

So......... Am I funny?

Race Tomorrow

I am going to be racing tomorrow. There is a 32 mile road race this saturday and I think I'll go give it a whirl. I must admit I've been a little under the weather most of this week sore throat and cold/aches.

Maybe it will have no effect on me, but I've not felt really strong on the bike this week. I think for this racing season however being my first going and getting pack time is going to be helpful. Even tho My fitness isn't quite up to par and I may or may not be able to hang on to the end. It will bode well for next year. I've come a long way in the last year and I think by this time next year I'll be in a better spot to compete. Right now I think this is about getting experience. 

One of the things I am finding about getting fit is there are a million opinions on the best way to go about it. Which tells me there is more than one way to skin this cat. Part of the experience I need to work through, is finding the right way for me. What sort of workouts get me the results I want / what food/ what rest... what is the most effective way to warm up? I just need experience to help guild me.  

Speaking for warming up. For some reason this part of the equation is appearing to have a large impact on how a ride goes. I am finding that the warm up needs to be fairly long 30 -40 minutes, and fairly intense toward the end. i am finding that hitting it hard at the very first, creates a fatigue that I can't recover from. However if I slowly ramp up the effort in a serge and recover method I can push really hard at the end and recover relatedly well.

Well that's all the boring bike stuff I have on my mind at the moment. I'll right in to tell you how the race went.

Once more into the breach! We happy few.